Those who want to add their candlelight vigil to any existing ones or start their own (for example, for the poor, defenseless whales, etc.), please send me an email message telling me what cause you want to support, attach a digital photo and add a message if you want.
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Sunday, April 27, 2008

According to Malaysiakini in a report by Athi Veerangan on 28 April 2008, detained HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) leader P Uthayakumar has taken ill again. According to his wife, S Indra Devi who visited him at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping yesterday, Uthayakumar has been suffering from heart problems and severe skin allergy for the past few days an "his diabetic level is also high" (meaning I suppose, the blood sugar is very much above normal). This is bad news because high blood sugar level can cause a lot of medical problems. Let us have a candlelight vigil for his health and quick release from unfair detention without trial:

An estimated 2,000 plus Hindraf supporters from all over Malaysia had assembled to call on the government to release all five detained HINDRAF as far as I can see from photos uploaded to Malaysiakini, the were all unarmed, and the Constitution of Malaysia says peaceful assemblies without arms are allowed. Look at the photo below for example:

The rifles carried by some FRU (Federal Reserve Unit or Riot Squad) is not so obvious in the above photo, but look the photo below:

One rifle is highlighted by a red arrow pointing at it. Tell me, why anyone would need rifles against peaceful unarmed demonstrators, and that, demonstrators some of whom held up photos of Mahatma Gandhi, an advocate of peaceful resistance.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

HINDRAF organized a peaceful rally without arms to present a memorandum through the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to Queen Elizabeth to appoint a Queen Counsel to represent them in a court case to claim compensation to descendents of Indian indentured laborers imported from India by the British during the colonial era to work on the rubber estates of Malaya. According to HINDRAF, the United Kingdom is responsible for leaving these indentured laborers and their descendents behind when they abandoned Malaya and did not provide in the Constitution of then Malaya sufficient protection for the well being of those left behind and whom they claimed are now marginalized and suffering from poverty and lack of opportunities.

The Malaysian government placed all kinds of obstacles and issued all kinds of threats including an order to police to arrest on sight plus an unprecedented court order to ban the rally from taking place and to prevent anyone from attending. Despite these draconian measures, a huge number of Indians and some of other races did attend the rally. They were met with tear gases, chemical laced water cannon, baton charges, etc. Five of the organizers were arrested. Among them was Uthayakumar s/o Ponnusamy who is diabetic.

I have already read reports that his fiancée had complained that the diabetic medications she handed to the Kamunting Detention camp did not reach Uthayakumar. This is serious enough. Worst new now. It is now reported that he was forced to eat high starch food which is obviously bad for diabetic patients and is tantamount to torture and abuse of human rights.

The latest is that P. Uthayakumar has been hospitalized at the Taiping Hospital as his blood sugar level had rose to 3 times the normal level. He had not been given his diabetic medications for more than one month. If this continue, it is as good as murder. Let us try to save the good health, perhaps even the life of one who is unfairly detained without trail. Let us have a candlelight vigil for Uthayakumar that the detention camp administrators will be more humane, that he will be released from unfair detention as soon as possible.